Indian Country Today Media Network.com - Freedmenhttp://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/tags/freedmen
enEat Your Own Sheephttp://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2013/08/10/eat-your-own-sheep
<fieldset class="field-group-fieldset group-opinions-body form-wrapper" id="node_opinion_rss_group_opinions_body"><legend><span class="fieldset-legend">Body</span></legend><div class="fieldset-wrapper"><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>There is a story about the Prophet Samuel rebuking King David for committing adultery with Bathsheba. He told of a man who owned many sheep, but when he needed one, he stole his neighbor's one sheep. The story teaches that we are not to take that which belongs to another because we have all we need. I tell this because throughout history, the country wants to eat our sheep when they have plenty in their own yard.</p>
<p>Looking back at the hot issues facing Indian country, it amazes me that we still can't move forward for moving backward. There is an onslaught of the attempts to diminish tribal sovereignty throughout the country.</p>
<p>The Freedmen and some in Congress believe that the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma must adhere to the Cherokee Treaty of 1866 which provided tribal member’s rights to Freedmen. Wow, tribes are expected to honor and comply with treaties, but the Federal Government generally has failed to honor and comply with their agreement within the treaties. It's a double standard which penalizes tribes but rewards the federal government for non-adherance to each and every requirement.</p>
<p>Even now, the federal government is trying to shuffle treaty educational promises from their educational programs to the <em>Cobell</em> settlement partially. In 2007, Sen. John McCain (R-Arizona) offered in a letter to settle the claim by offering to jettison a bill through Congress to settle for about $8 billion plus. But <em>Cobell</em>'s legal counsel was smarter than the government and held out for a final $3.4 billion settlement. That truly is "fuzzy math." <em>Cobell</em> negotiators are really magnificent. And to add injury to insult, each class member agreed, knowing or unknowingly, to forever absolve or forgive past claims against the government. Did you know that? It was in the fine print.</p>
<p>The recent U.S. Supreme Court and the South Carolina State Supreme Court's insistence to reshape or redraft the Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978 (ICWA) in the <em>Baby v. Adoptive Couple</em> case, is a frontal attack on tribal sovereignty where the Courts are legislating and ruling from the bench. In this case, there is no regard that the baby is a member of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma and the Cherokee family has due process rights. The courts completely disregard the purpose and history for the need of the ICWA. During their haste to diminish tribal sovereignty, non-adherence to the full law has been ignored. The established process based upon the law is ignored and the courts are trying to let tribes know that law or not, we don't agree.</p>
<p>The federal government's sequestration fiasco is hurting who the most? Those who live in inner cities and the Native American communities. Most tribal reservations are isolated and jobs are scarce. I lived on the Fort Peck Assiniboine &amp; Sioux Indian Reservation in Montana for 24 years. I saw firsthand the struggles Indian folks experience on a daily basis. Due to the lack of meaningful employment, it is very difficult to climb out of the hole and live the "American Dream" such as those in non-Indian communities experience. Many Indians on reservations survive through family help and even sharing housing. They survive barely on general assistance which is so little that funds are depleted by early spring or mid-summer. They survive on food stamps or USDA commodities which doesn't meet all of their needs. They are sometimes warm in the harsh cold winters while the Low Income Energy Assistance Program, or LIEAP, still has funding available, which very seldom doesn't happen. When LIEAP funding is depleted, many lose their utilities when disconnected due to non-payment.</p>
<p>The non-native world says anyone can make it if they are willing to work. While I lived in Montana, the closest McDonald's was 100 miles away and the closest Wal-Mart was also 100 miles away. And both were in Willison, North Dakota. The closet major airport is more than 300 miles away in Billings or Great Falls, Montana. Medical Specialist are scarce and therefore many pass away due to the lack of proper and attentive medical means. This is what really defines a remote location. But that's where we were forced to relocate when the non-Indian decided he wanted our prime land so he entered into deceitful treaties to swindle away our land.</p>
<p>And finally, the Court has diminished our promise and future by dissecting the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934. They found a way to stop tribes from gaining land by interpreting one little word in the law. "Now." Unless Congress enacts a fix, it could prevent many tribes from acquiring additional lands for housing tribal members and economic purposes. Again, the Court is legislating and ruling from the bench. Many tribes provide jobs and economic potential to Indians and non-Indians. Oklahoma tribes contributed about $1 billion plus in 2012 to the State of Oklahoma's economy. Tribes contribute and build roads and improve infrastructures which benefit the state and their road system. Tribes contribute to state education systems to enhance program delivery. And tribes contribute to states through tobacco and water compacts.</p>
<p>We are not the enemy, but we can and have been an ally to states. But, being a friend isn't a one-way street. Do something for us now and leave our sovereignty intact. That's the least you should do for a good friend.</p>
<p><em>Jay Daniels has 30 years of experience working in Indian country, managing trust lands and is a member of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma. You can find resources and information at <a href="http://roundhousetalk.com" target="_blank">RoundHouseTalk.com</a>.</em></p>
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<div class="field field-name-field-short-title field-type-text field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Short title:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Eat Your Own Sheep</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-category field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Category:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/category/government" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Government</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/category/history" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">History</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/category/legal" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Legal</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/category/politics" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Politics</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-full-name field-type-text field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Full name:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Jay Daniels</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/tags/jay-daniels" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Jay Daniels</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/tags/bathsheba" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Bathsheba</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/tags/samuel" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Samuel</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/tags/king-david" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">King David</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/tags/cherokee" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Cherokee</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/tags/freedmen" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Freedmen</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/tags/indian-child-welfare-act" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Indian Child Welfare Act</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/tags/icwa" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">ICWA</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/tags/baby-v-adoptive-couple" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Baby v. Adoptive Couple</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/tags/fort-peck-assiniboine-sioux-indian-reservation" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Fort Peck Assiniboine &amp; Sioux Indian Reservation</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/tags/low-income-energy-assistance-program" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Low Income Energy Assistance Program</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/tags/lieap" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">LIEAP</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-author-image field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Author image:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/author/jay-daniels" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Jay Daniels</a></div></div></div>Sat, 10 Aug 2013 12:00:09 +0000mazecyrus150812 at http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.comhttp://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2013/08/10/eat-your-own-sheep#commentsForgotten Outlaw Rufus Buck Had a Dreamhttp://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2012/02/24/forgotten-outlaw-rufus-buck-had-dream-99518
<div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>Rufus Buck was the notorious leader of the Buck Gang that terrorized the Indian Territories (what is now Oklahoma and Arkansas) during the summer of 1895 in an attempt to stop whites from encroaching on Native American land.</p></div></div></div>Fri, 24 Feb 2012 17:00:43 +0000leeanne99518 at http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.comhttp://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2012/02/24/forgotten-outlaw-rufus-buck-had-dream-99518#commentsConsidering the "IndiVisible" History of African Americans and American Indianshttp://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2012/01/16/considering-indivisible-history-african-americans-and-american-indians-72672
<div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>African Americans and American Indians can both tell tales of historical injustice—but to what extent do those tales overlap?</p></div></div></div>Tue, 17 Jan 2012 01:05:03 +0000jrobertson72672 at http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.comhttp://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2012/01/16/considering-indivisible-history-african-americans-and-american-indians-72672#commentsCherokees’ Secret History, Revealedhttp://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2011/12/04/cherokees-secret-history-revealed-65226
<div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p><em>Secret History of the Cherokees</em> (Indian Territory Press, 2011) by Deborah Duvall, Murv Jacob and James Murray is a highly entertaining nonfiction novel, the first in a planned series that is as ambitious as it is concise.</p></div></div></div>Mon, 05 Dec 2011 00:00:14 +0000theresa65226 at http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.comhttp://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2011/12/04/cherokees-secret-history-revealed-65226#commentsA Letter to the Editor Regarding the Cherokee Freedmenhttp://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2011/10/11/letter-editor-regarding-cherokee-freedmen
<fieldset class="field-group-fieldset group-opinions-body form-wrapper" id="node_opinion_rss_group_opinions_body"><legend><span class="fieldset-legend">Body</span></legend><div class="fieldset-wrapper"><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>The Cherokee Nation based out of Tahlequah, Oklahoma has decided to strip “Freedmen” of their Cherokee rights and to expel them from their nation. Freedmen are African American descendants of slaves. The decision to expel them is based purely on the fact that they cannot prove their Native American heritage. The United States government openly disagrees with this issue and has already suspended more than $33 million in funding to the Cherokees and declined to recognize their appointment of a new Tribal Chief that is to take place later this month.</p>
<p>The issue with their decision is that they are basing this purely on race which is promoting segregation from a people who have fought with and supported them in their struggle to remain in existence throughout history. The issue of racism and segregation are pivotal points that the American people have worked so hard to overcome throughout the years. It is also known that some of the Freedman do actually have Native blood, but cannot prove this simply because they were listed as Black on the Dawes Roll. The Dawes Roll was created with the intent of separation and succeeded in that goal to the extent that it is still now affecting the fair and balanced treatment of Cherokee Nation citizens. At the time of the Dawes Roll creation, many governments operated under the idea that if you possessed one drop of Black blood in your veins you were considered Black and nothing else, which was an example of racism in its purest and most malicious form. Because of this incompetent type of thinking, children born in unions between former slaves and Native American Tribal members were recognized and listed as Black on the Dawes Roll.</p>
<p>If the Cherokee Nation chooses to go this route, the perception of Native American culture will drastically change. In recent online news articles I have already begun to observe comments from readers referring to Natives as “racist” and “egocentric.” As a Native American descendant who is also African American and a descendant of slaves I resent this passionately and am almost ashamed to say that I am of Native blood. I have been taught throughout my life by my Grandfather Joe Homer, who is Choctaw, that being Native American is something to be very proud of. My Grandfather fought his whole life to prove that he is a Native American and died fighting to a court system that dishes out the same racism that the Cherokee Nation is forcing upon its loyal people (“Loyal” being the keyword here not BLACK). As someone who has always been proud of my Choctaw heritage, I am hoping that the Cherokee Nation will rescind this hateful act against the people who have long fought with them and not turn into a replica of the very people who they fought from expelling them, simply because they were different.</p>
<p>Sincerely,</p>
<p>Kimberly Horton</p>
<p><em>Kimberly Horton was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area and is of African American and Native American descent, with ties to the Choctaw and Chickasaw tribes. She is a college student working towards her Bachelor’s of Science in the Journalism field and aspires to have a career in communications. Kimberly is motivated by her passion to make a change and adheres to the quote by the philosopher and writer John Lilly that, “our only security is the ability to change.” </em></p>
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<div class="field field-name-field-short-title field-type-text field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Short title:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">A Letter to the Edit</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-category field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Category:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/category/all" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">All</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/category/history" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">History</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/category/identity" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Identity</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/category/racism" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Racism</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/category/sovereignty" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Sovereignty</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/category/tradition" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Tradition</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-full-name field-type-text field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Full name:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Kimberly Horton</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/tags/cherokee-nation" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Cherokee Nation</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/tags/freedmen" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Freedmen</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/tags/cherokee-nation-oklahoma" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/tags/cherokee-freedmen" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Cherokee Freedmen</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/tags/kimberly-horton" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Kimberly Horton</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-author-image field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Author image:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/author/kimberly-horton" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Kimberly Horton</a></div></div></div>Wed, 12 Oct 2011 03:41:09 +0000jrobertson57976 at http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.comhttp://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2011/10/11/letter-editor-regarding-cherokee-freedmen#commentsThe Treaties in Our Dreamshttp://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2011/10/05/treaties-our-dreams
<fieldset class="field-group-fieldset group-opinions-body form-wrapper" id="node_opinion_rss_group_opinions_body"><legend><span class="fieldset-legend">Body</span></legend><div class="fieldset-wrapper"><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>Like most Indians who give thought to our relationship with the United States, I dream of Indian treaties as sacred promises or, at least, what the Constitution says in so many words: “all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding.”</p>
<p>Since my beloved Cherokee Nation has determined to abrogate a treaty with the United States, that dream has turned into a very scary nightmare. My grandmother taught me that what is good for the goose is just fine for the gander.</p>
<p>One of the favorite pastimes of Indian lawyers has always been disputing among themselves which US Supreme Court decisions are the worst of the worst for the interests of Indians. Walter Echo-Hawk recently wrote a book on his picks. I make some picks in a chapter of my book.</p>
<p>Two cases are often the scum rising to the top in this melting pot of ugliness.</p>
<p><em>Lone Wolf v. Hitchcock</em>, holding that the US can abrogate treaties with the Indian nations based on a finding that abrogation is in our best interests.</p>
<p><em>Cherokee Nation v. Georgia</em>, holding that we cannot bring original actions in the Supreme Court for treaty violations the way other nations can.</p>
<p>This backdrop of bad faith is the barb inside the famous words of Hugo Black that Indian lawyers call the all-purpose federal Indian law dissent: “Great Nations, like great men, should keep their word.”</p>
<p>The most potent political weapons in our arsenal have always been our treaties. For the most part, we kept our word and the United States did not. The Cherokee Supreme Court’s recent decision on the citizenship of the freedmen states flatly that we have not abrogated the treaty between the United States and the Cherokee Nation in 1866 containing the declaration that all “free colored persons” living in the Cherokee Nation or who returned within six months “shall have all the rights of native Cherokees.”</p>
<p>It neglects to tell us why this is not so, assuming it self-evident that we can stand outside history and separate the rights of citizenship from citizenship itself because it’s to our advantage almost 150 years later.</p>
<p>At the time, why did the United States care? Because the Cherokee slaves would otherwise be the responsibility of the Freedmen’s Bureaus.</p>
<p>Why did the Cherokee Nation not care? Because we had already freed the slaves as a matter of Cherokee law before the treaty was negotiated, and our “intruder problem” was white people taking our property (among other crimes) and hiding behind federal jurisdiction. What we wanted was respect for Cherokee law, and it was white people avoiding Cherokee law, not black people.</p>
<p>Didn’t the Cherokee people vote to abrogate the treaty? Not exactly, for two reasons.</p>
<p>First, the disenrollment of the freedmen was purposely presented at a special election rather than a general election to drastically limit the turnout to those who perceived they had a dog in the fight. Racial prejudice runs deep in rural Oklahoma, where <em>Brown v. Board of Education</em> was considered an unwarranted imposition of federal power, and a special election was calculated to attract the racist vote.</p>
<p>Second, the same tribal leaders currently squirming over the cutoff of federal funds assured the voters that a treaty was not being abrogated. The voters cannot be accused of approving something they were specifically told was not at issue.</p>
<p>Then there is the argument that the treaty was invalid in the first place because it ended the hostilities in the Civil War, where the Cherokee fought on the losing side. This is simply nonsense, because treaties end most wars and the winner always has the whip hand.</p>
<p>A really dangerous argument thrown into the debate is known in lawyer Latin as tu quoque, “you do it, too.” That is, the treaty was already dead because the US had violated it in some respects.</p>
<p>Whether the treaty obligation exists now in light of changed circumstances is a valid question, and one that must be parsed carefully in the law of treaty abrogation, but no such parsing ever took place in any of the three branches of Cherokee government. There has only been denial and obfuscation.</p>
<p>In <em>Lone Wolf v. Hitchcock</em>, the US Supreme Court decided, essentially, that Secretary Ethan Hitchcock would be empowered to act in the best interests of the Kiowa over the expressions of that interest by the Kiowa Principal Chief. In history’s rear view mirror, we know that Chief Lone Wolf was right, but had Lone Wolf been wrong do a sovereign people not have a right to proceed to Hell in their own chosen hand basket?</p>
<p>We know now and have known since the day it was decided that the Lone Wolf case was an outrageous extension of the reasons for treaty abrogation recognized in law. Because Indian nations have not been in the habit of abrogating treaties, we have no statement by an Indian court of in what respect Lone Wolf was wrong and therefore what the rules ought to be. This is the opportunity the Cherokee Supreme Court declined by adopting the farcical position of the Cherokee executive rather than reaching the same result, if it must, in the manner of a court.</p>
<p>The interruption in federal funds to the Cherokee, some say, is a result of meddling by the Congressional Black Caucus rather than the normal enforcement of federal anti-discrimination rules. It might more profitably bring to mind the negotiating posture of a federal treaty commissioner quoted in <em>South Dakota v. Yankton Sioux Tribe</em>:</p>
<p><em>"I want you to understand that you are absolutely dependent upon the Great Father to-day for a living. Let the Government send out instructions to your agent to cease to issue these rations, let the Government instruct your agent to cease to issue your clothes. . . . Let the Government instruct him to cease to issue your supplies, let him take away the money to run your schools with, and I want to know what you would do. Everything you are wearing and eating is gratuity. Take all this away and throw this people wholly upon their own responsibility to take care of themselves, and what would be the result? Not one-fourth of your people could live through the winter, and when the grass grows again it would be nourished by the dust of all the balance of your noble tribe."</em></p>
<p>As a Cherokee citizen, I hope we are not in such a fix in the 21st century. Treaty abrogation is a sovereign right but it comes with a hefty price tag if you are dependent.</p>
<p>Remember the position of the modern Indian fighters: every program that benefits Indians, all of Title 25 of the US Code, is racial discrimination against white people. Our response to that is the distinction between “race” and citizenship that the Cherokee Supreme Court has trashed without analysis. This distinction is what has kept money flowing to Indian country over the objections of the Indian fighters.</p>
<p>The danger is obvious that the Congressional Indian fighters could use the Cherokee case as a wedge against all appropriations to tribes, even those required by treaty. Circumstances have changed, you see, and “race discrimination” cannot be tolerated.</p>
<p>A final and much less obvious danger lurks in simply accepting the death of Indian treaties, which does not, with all respect to Hamlet, represent for Indians “a consummation devoutly to be wish’d.”</p>
<p>Congress ended Indian treaty making in 1871 by a legislative rider. It’s not clear that Congress had the power to do that or, if Congress did, that it could be done with a rider. Negotiating treaties is a quintessential executive function.</p>
<p>The Senate (alone) could refuse to ratify a treaty with an Indian nation, but it’s not clear that Congress could stop the negotiation of one. With the right President, some of the most galling infringements on our sovereignty by the courts could be attacked around the reach of the Indian fighters in the House of Representatives. This might be yet another reason for an Indian nation not to act recklessly in abrogating a treaty.</p>
<p>Or I might, once again, be dreaming.</p>
<p><em>Steve Russell, Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, is a Texas trial court judge by assignment and associate professor emeritus of criminal justice at Indiana University-Bloomington. He is a columnist for Indian Country Today. He lives in Georgetown, Texas, and can be reached at <a href="mailto:swrussel@indiana.edu">swrussel@indiana.edu</a>.</em></p>
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<div class="field field-name-field-short-title field-type-text field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Short title:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">The Treaties in Our </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-category field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Category:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/category/all" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">All</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/category/government" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Government</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/category/legal" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Legal</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/category/sovereignty" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Sovereignty</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-full-name field-type-text field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Full name:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Steve Russell</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/tags/cherokee-nation" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Cherokee Nation</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/tags/freedmen" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Freedmen</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/tags/lone-wolf-v-hitchcock" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Lone Wolf v. Hitchcock</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/tags/treaties" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Treaties</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/tags/steve-russell" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Steve Russell</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/tags/cherokee-nation-v-georgia" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Cherokee Nation v. Georgia</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/tags/cherokee-freedmen" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Cherokee Freedmen</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-author-image field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Author image:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/author/steve-russell" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Steve Russell</a></div></div></div>Thu, 06 Oct 2011 03:56:57 +0000jrobertson57229 at http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.comhttp://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2011/10/05/treaties-our-dreams#commentsEducation for Creek Freedmenhttp://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2011/08/22/education-creek-freedmen-48516
<div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>An August 14 blog by <a title="Angela Y. Walton-Raji" href="http://www.blogger.com/profile/12987860835348165902" target="_blank">Angela Y. Walton-Raji</a> discusses the establishment of schools for freedmen in Indian territory.</p></div></div></div>Tue, 23 Aug 2011 00:00:33 +0000leeanne48516 at http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.comhttp://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2011/08/22/education-creek-freedmen-48516#commentsCherokee Judge Grants Citizenship to Freedmenhttp://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2011/01/16/cherokee-judge-grants-citizenship-freedmen-11849
<div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>A Cherokee Nation District Court judge has granted tribal citizenship to about 2,800 Cherokee Freedmen.</p></div></div></div>Sun, 16 Jan 2011 19:00:56 +0000jrobertson11849 at http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.comhttp://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2011/01/16/cherokee-judge-grants-citizenship-freedmen-11849#comments